Maribeau said that "none but men of strong passions are capable of rising to greatness." Tennyson said, "The happiness of a man in his life does not consist in the absence but in the mastering of his passions." Franklin said that "he is a governor that governs his passions and he is a servant that serves them.

What a mistake to suppose that the passions are strongest in youth. The passions are not stronger, but the control over them is weaker. They are more easily excited; they are more violent and apparent, but they have less energy, less durability, less intense and concentrated power than in mature life.

Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists.

Freedom comes from moral self-control. There is no other way to achieve it.

If you cheat on reason with emotion you will go bankrupt.

Self-reverence self-knowledge self-control - these three alone lead to sovereign power.

Masterly retreat is in itself a victory.

The exercise of true leadership is inversely proportional to the exercise of power.

Leadership has less to do with position than it does with disposition.

The emotionally intelligent person is skilled in four areas: identifying emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions.

I no longer think that learning how to manage people, especially subordinates, is the most important for executives to learn. I am teaching above all else, how to manage oneself.

We are learning to do a great many clever things. The next great task will be to learn not to do them.